Scourge of the Dragons Read Online Free PDF

one time,
there had been a sister stronghold in the sun realms, but long
since the Citadel of the Sun had been left in ruins. The two mages
cared little for the history between the sun and evening realms.
Like the Empress, they had come from the other elven kingdoms. The
empire had once been four separate kingdoms. In more recent times,
the sun and night elf kingdoms had joined together to fend off the
woodland and sea kingdoms. The fighting had lasted for several
decades before the marriage of Erlkan and Melisandre forged a new
empire out of the ashes of the four kingdoms. Finrul and Fenzik had
jumped at the chance to study the other dragon types under the
Empress.
    “They are more restless than usual,” Fenzik
said as he pointed toward the two bronze dragons in the middle of
the nest.
    “The elder dragons have always fought for
supremacy, but never have I seen such violence,” Finrul
replied.
    The two bronze dragons circled a larger gold
dragon. They circled their prey, looking for an opening. Two silver
dragons lingered on the outskirts of the fight, seemingly waiting
to pounce on an unsuspecting victim. The gold dragon lashed out
with its tail and hit one of the bronze dragons in the face. His
other opponent lunged forward and the two exchanged blows. Their
hardened scales took the brunt of the damage and the two creatures
reared back and eyed one another. They each let out a low roar
before turning away from each other. The two silver dragons snorted
before turning away from the short fight.
    “That was not normal,” Finrul said.
    “Have you studied the sun dragons long
enough to know if their habits are different from the others?”
Fenzik asked.
    “I have, but there are only a few
distinguishable differences. The sun dragons rarely end a fight
without one side dying. They are as dangerous as they are
majestic.”
    “Yet they are not considered to be as
dangerous as the night dragons.”
    “That is a frightening concept. For now, we
must put it aside. These dragons are acting erratically and
something must be done to fix it.”
    “You presume to fix us, elf?” The gold
dragon asked in a booming voice as he landed near the entrance to
the next.
    “We are here to offer expertise and our
educated opinions, nothing more,” Fenzik replied.
    “Tell the Empress that we do not need any
assistance.”
    “You are making a foolish mistake, dragon.
The scourge is pervasive and deadly, you should accept whatever
help you can get.”
    *
    Obrin held up his hand as he heard a noise
in the distance. He leaned forward, straining to hear better. The
sound of soft crunching echoed off the neighboring hills. Wrotan
drew his sword and leaped in front of the King. A large winged
beast roared as it lunged at the hunter. Alandra and her elves
rushed forward as several more winged beasts landed around them.
Erlkan drew his sword and stood back near Hadrin and Obrin. The
King of the evening realms took a moment to regain his composure
before examining the creatures. There were seven in all. From what
the dragons had told him, the four with six foot wingspans, two
hind legs, and a more snakelike form were wyverns. Two of them were
easily recognizable as drakes with their near ten foot wingspans,
quadruped lizardlike form, razorsharp claws, and teeth like small
daggers. The final beast, what could only be a wyrm, looked like a
massive monitor lizard.
    “We are nearly there, these dragonlings
follow their greater brethren,” Obrin said.
    “That one almost looks more like a lizard
than a dragon,” Hadrin said as he pointed toward the wyrm.
    “There are many types of dragons, my son.
The wyrms most closely resemble the earth dragons.”
    Wrotan skewered one of the wyverns with his
spear before retreating back behind Alandra’s shield. The two
worked in unison to take down one of the drakes. He lashed out from
behind the shield, pestering the beast into charging. She shoved
the bottom of her shield into the ground and ducked down